Can Fish Smell Desperation

[porto]

streamers = browns

Never tried using streamers on a river. I'm thinking woolly buggars and muddlers?

[Vagabond]

Desperation,hmmmmm???

12 hrs on the river yesterday,caught a small sunburn and a big buzz.

Swung Streamers,zuddlers,BRBs,with soft hackle wet trailers,more SHWs 2 &3 at a time,sparkle emergers....ended the evening with caddis dries.

A few risers throughout the day,a few more in the eve, big brown drakes from 10;00am thru mid day,small black stones,a few caddis.Had ONE bloody tug ALL Day on a zuddlers/soft hackle combo...grrrrrrrr. :mad:

Pretty sure the river lowered a few inches by day's end,a bit better clarity also.

So that's my excuse,poor vis,fish can't eat flies that they can't see.

Change of tactics today,gonna dig out lucky hat,buy a pink shirt at Value Village and giver'!!

Maybe throw some more money at them also,as if thousands of $$ worth of gear,flies and unpaid leave from work isn't enough.....sigghhhhh

.....almost desperate enough to dangle nymphs under a bobber..... :puke: ......almost...

[Fishscape]

Chin up. Even a blind pig finds an acorn once in awhile.

[ArsenalFan]

Ah. Nice to return to the forum. It has been a few years. Anyhow......5 years ago I would catch at least a dozen fish a day on the Crowsnest, Bow and smaller streams. Huge browns on the dry, streamer. Tied my own flies, made my own rods. Spent countless late weeday evenings at Policemans chasing big boys on the dry. The last 3 years have been absolute *hit. That is how I see it. You don't go from feeling like you could guide to getting skunked on nearly every trip by chance. The rivers just are not fishing like they used to. I am going down to Montana this year and hope to relive the feeling I used to get nearly every time I hit our local waters. I can only hope this is just a cycle and that my beloved rivers will return to their former glory. I took up running now as I decided if I was going to spend 12 hours walking a river without a sniff, I may as well get some cardio. So my $ has went towards running gear and snowboarding equipment. Broke my 4 weigh 2 years ago on the Oldman (another skunkaroo) and never replaced it. Hell.....I even took my kid to Bow Habitat station 4 days after it opened and there wasn't a damn fish to be had. My love for fishing isn't what it used to be. Sad but true. They may not smell desperation but they must sense "pissed off."

[jaymack]

Maybe you just need to adapt and adjust to what the river is giving you. It was my first year fly fishing last year and when I would finally put it together for bits at a time, I would get some kind of action. Figures though, coming from a soccer fan.......

[Hawgstoppah]

Darren we miss ya buddy. Come back to the dark side. There's fish here, we promise.

[ArsenalFan]

Sorry about the whiner of a post. I am just real frustrated. It used to be my FAVORITE thing in the whole world. I just can't get this monkey off the back.

[jaymack]

Yeah sorry about my soccer comment, just re reading this now and realizing beer and Internet may not mix well

[Speycaster]

Ask not what your river can do for you but instead what you can do for your river.Wasn't that what JFK said on the Battenkill after a skunking.